FBI AND IRS UNMASKING CRYPTO INVESTORS BY PAYING FIRMS

Cryptocurrency

The FBI (Federal Bureau Investigation) is snooping on crypto investors, many of whom believe they’re transacting anonymously on the web.

U.S. government spending on blockchain analytics has nearly tripled up to $5.7 million to date in 2018 compared to $1.9 million last year, according to Sept. 25 Diar report. Some of those funds are used to unmask digital identities. Agencies are awarding contracts to blockchain analysis firms with much of the taxpayer-funded dollars having been awarded to New York-based Chainalysis. “Blockchain analysis is … frequently used by law enforcement agencies to identify illegal activity and attempt to link identities to pseudo anonymous bitcoin addresses.”

So which agencies are tracking crypto investors?

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) spent the most, accounting for 38% of total federal spend at $2.1 million while Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) came in second at $1.5 million. The FBI has spent $1.1 million so far this year. All three federal agencies combined for 85% of total spending, according to Diar’s analysis of public records.